Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. I borrow them to play with because they are just so dang cute.

CHAPTER 1

MAGIC CAN'T CURE EVERYTHING?

The Paris night was clear - the sky shimmering with the golden glow of street lamps and stars.

A beautiful evening for a patrol.

It had been an uneventful night so far. Pedestrians waving merrily at them from below, the warm wind of spring brushing through his blond hair and tail, Chat Noir's green eyes flicked to his Lady and he watched her athletically leap over a chimney, the muscles in her arms and legs taut and beautiful.

"Purr-tty quiet out here, huh?" he called.

She nodded, a thoughtful look passing her bluebell eyes. Landing together on a roof, Ladybug's gaze flicked to the southeast and he followed her glance, his cat ears focusing.

"Akuma senses tingling?" he asked her with a smirk, his belted tail flapping coyly behind him.

"I think something's going on near the Place du Châtelet square," she said softly, her expression distracted - and distracting. "There's usually more traffic coming from that intersection. Even at this time of night."

Her cute pigtails tossing over her shoulders, she started spinning her yoyo tightly.

"We should check it out."

"It's been over a week since the last akuma. I'd say we're due."

She nodded. "Thanks to that, we've been doing well keeping on top of the patrol schedule."

He shot her a devilish grin. "It's a good thing we have these patrols or you'd cry yourself to sleep missing me."

"Ha! I'd sooner cry about stubbing my toe," she returned, the distracted look leaving her eyes in the wake of their banter.

"I'll kiss it and make it better, My Lady," Chat purred, sweeping her a deep bow - and reaching for her fingers at the same time.

She rewarded him a dazzling smile, but pulled her hand away.

He felt his heart race in his chest.

Dieu, she was beautiful.

"No, thanks - you'll cough a fur ball on me. Besides, you'll be the one left crying, Chat Noir,"

He leaned on his pole, his face growing close to hers. "Oh, yeah? Gonna make me cry when you break my heart?"

"No - when I leave you in the dust!"

Her sweet laughter followed his loud "Hey!" as she swung quickly to the sky, flipped over a ledge, and ran across a roof to swing down to the square. He was hot on her heels, ebony boots touching the ground only a second after her.

She grinned, reaching up to boop his nose.

"I win."

He gave her a pout. "You can't start a race without telling me, Bugaboo. That's not how the game works."

"If you can't handle the game, don't complain when you lose, chaton." Her eyes twinkled up at him.

All humor dropped as a scream broke out from the northern section of the square. Snapping their gaze to the streets, a woman ran around the corner in panic followed by a brilliant lavender beam of light streaking past.

"Looks like your Ladybug sense was right on the spot."

"Sometimes I wish it wasn't," she murmured.

The akuma rounded the corner and Chat let out a low whistle.

"Someone looks furr-ious."

The akuma was floating - a wave of rolling energy coiling off her body like vapor. Dressed in a deep purple robe with strange jagged symbols covering it, she flickered in and out of view like a specter. A long-twisted staff in her thin fingers, her lips were crunched in an angry scowl.

The akuma fired a blast from her staff and the woman ducked just in time - crouching behind a parked car. The spell shivered over the vehicle - a jagged symbol snaking across it.

The heroes locked eyes and immediately read each other's thoughts.

Despite the jokes, the banter, his flirting and her brushing off his advances, they were so well versed in each other's abilities there was no need for verbal communication. They were as one - a perfect team - a synchronization honed by mutual trust, respect, and faith.

Ladybug cast her yoyo and swung, diving down to scoop the civilian into her arms.

Meanwhile, Chat raised his extended baton at… nothing?

Glanced around the empty square, his weapon at the ready, he focused his sharp hearing and searched with his catlike senses - still nothing. Ladybug landed back at his side, the worry tossing over her pretty features. Yoyo swirling, she scanned with him - studying the shadows as the night grew deeper.

"You lost the akuma already?"

"Hard to keep track when they can pull a disappearing act."

Immediately turning back to back, Chat felt her hand accidentally brush against his leg and a warm thrill rushed through him.

"Do you hear anything?" she asked, keeping her weapon spinning.

Curving his concentration back to the fight and not on her sweet scent, he listened intently - nope.

"Silent as the grave," he answered, shaking his head. "Maybe the akuma realized she was a third wheel and left. This is a nice spot for a first date."

Ladybug groaned and he grinned cheekily.

Another few tense heartbeats and she gasped.

"Over there! By the Fountaine du Palmier!"

"On it!"

Twisting on toe, he followed her in the charge. The akuma let out a wild hiss and shot the lavender beam from her staff. They dodged the attack, Ladybug flipping to the left and Chat leaping to the right. The akuma glided away - flickering quickly around the square.

"She's creepy," he shuddered.

The akuma materialized in front of him and he quickly catapulted away with his baton. The spell hit the fountain behind him and he gasped as a dark violet cloud engulfed it - molting into a car. Turning his head, he saw the tall concrete fountain pivoted on the sidewalk where the car used to be, crunched on top of vehicles parked beside it.

Broken pipes flooded water into the street.

They were switched.

"You gotta be kitten me!" Chat called as he landed on the other side. Ladybug was closer to the akuma, her eyes skimming the square.

Had she already called out her Lucky Charm?

Catching his eye, it was as if she spoke in his head. He knew instantly what she needed.

She hadn't figured out her charm yet.

Time to stall.

Ladybug took the akuma's right, he took the left.

Flipping her yoyo, she cut through a blast from the akuma's staff and kept just out of reach. He went airborne, jumping with his baton. Landing at the akuma's side, the purple woman snarled as he went for a hit. The baton phased through her. He dodged another quick shot and noticed she was denser when she threw a spell.

"Go for her staff! The akuma is probably in there! She needs to be solid to shoot her spells! That's when she's vulnerable!" Chat called.

"Got it!"

The akuma snarled again, readying another attack, but the yoyo latched onto the staff as soon as it was solid - tangling on it tightly. Ladybug pulled, her teeth gritting, but the akuma wasn't giving up.

The akuma suddenly grinned triumphantly.

Chat's eyes went wide as the staff's end began to glow - pointed straight at Ladybug. She realized it just as he did, her blue gaze glimmering with fright.

"No!" he roared, sprinting forward.

He made it just in time - arms outstretched to cover her.

The blast hit him in the back.

Her heart was in her throat as he fell forward on his hands and knees - a grunt of pain leaving his lips. It was the same as when the spell had hit the car - the jagged symbol streaking across his entire body before vanishing off him in whisk of lavender dust.

"Chat Noir!" she cried, a desperation curling with her fear. He was groaning, his eyes closed and his teeth clenched.

Unlacing her yoyo, Ladybug jumped - leading the akuma away from her fallen partner. The monster followed - her attention no longer concerned with him.

Her Lucky Charm had given her something non-straightforward as usual. Glancing at the red and black mirror strapped to her hip, her blue eyes whisked the square again for a sign.

Then they landed on the akuma's staff and her yoyo.

Chat, still on his hands and knees, was blinking with green eyes unfocused, but slowly stumbling to his feet.

Plucking up the mirror, she held it with one hand, spinning the yoyo ready with the other.

The akuma had disappeared again - her blue eyes searched high and low.

"My Lady! Behind you!" Chat's voice called and she immediately turned on toe - slinging the yoyo as she went. She caught the staff once more just as a shot rang from the tip. Holding up the mirror, it bounced off the glass - streaming straight back to the akuma's weapon.

The akuma shrieked - her staff erupting in splintered cracks - the spell sizzling down to her fingertips. She dropped the staff just as a black cladded figure landed and Chat Noir hurried to stomp the edge of his baton on the broken weapon.

The butterfly fluttered out.

Ladybug, worry for her partner still clenching her stomach, quickly purified the akuma and threw the mirror high in the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

She watched her magic wash the akuma, now an older lady with a cane, and over the square to the fountain and car - but not over Chat.

"Are you okay?" she asked, stepping forward - her hand reached out for him. He took a few steps back from her fingertips, a strained grin spreading on his lips.

"Y-yeah! That was a close one, huh?" he chuckled, lacing his hands behind his back sheepishly.

There was something he was hiding.

"Chat - did… did my magic not… heal you?" Her concern twisted inside.

"N-No! No! I'm fine! Really! The spell did absolutely nothing except for make me dizzy for a few minutes. Good thing you had my back, right?"

They both jumped at the chirp in her earrings.

"You better go, partner. I'll make sure she gets back safe." He nodded kindly with that same stretched smile.

There was a familiarity in that smile - she'd seen it before, but on someone else…

Ladybug released a huffing breath. "Alright, Chat Noir. If you say so. Don't push yourself too hard, okay?"

With another look of apprehension over her shoulder, she tossed her yoyo and flew into the night sky.

Chat pulled his hand from around his back.

He glanced worriedly at his clawed fingers -

A small purple vapor was wafting from his ring.

Though she was quite far from the bakery, Ladybug had perfected the art of changing back right as she dove through her open skylight. A comfortable landing on her bed, a brilliant flash of pink, and Marinette held out her hand for Tikki. The little kwami fell into her palm, a sleepy smile spreading on her lips.

"Let's get you a cookie," the raven haired said kindly, opening her small purse that was resting next to her pillow. Fishing one out, she watched the kwami chew for a few minutes on her bedspread.

"Tikki, I have a question."

"Hopefully I have an answer." Tikki smiled around full cheeks.

"Tonight… there was an akuma. Chat got hit with a spell."

The crimson creature's antenna drooped.

"Oh, dear. Did you have to fight him again, Marinette?"

"That's the thing," Marinette said, biting her lip, "nothing happened to him. He said he got dizzy, but that was it. I have the feeling he was hiding something."

"But you used Miraculous Ladybug, right? No matter what, that should have fixed the damage that was done."

She sighed, laying back on her pillows. "I know, but… I think there was something strange about that spell. We didn't get to see the true extent of the akuma's powers. It was a quick fight - quicker than normal. And when it was over he was acting weird."

"Weird, how? Hasn't Chat Noir always been a little strange?"

"He gave me this smile-" With a groan, Marinette sat up and brushed her hands through her messy pigtails. "Ugh, I shouldn't be worrying over that silly cat. I have homework to finish. He said he was okay, that means he's got it under control. He's my partner and he would have told me if there was a problem."

"Exactly." Tikki nodded.

Chat Noir was not okay.

His eyes gave a tumbling swirl and he braced himself on his outstretched baton as the woman Ladybug had carried off at the beginning of the fight returned, howling apologies to her grandmother - the akuma. Seeing she was in safe hands, he took a deep steadying breath and catapulted himself to a roof.

Suddenly, his vision was washed in deep violet.

Oh.

Oh, no.

He tumbled, landing on his back painfully. A hiss escaped his lips. The dark star-studded sky of Paris winked back into view.

Teeth clenched, he panted.

At least, he'd cleared the roof - kinda.

Eyes slipping back to his ring, the purple vapor was strengthening, covering his entire finger.

A curl of fear twisted inside him, but he bravely pushed it away.

I gotta get home. Just get home and detransform. Everything will be alright. Everything will be alright.

He jumped over a street - forcing his direction east - and he tripped another landing, clattering hard on his hands and knees. Shaking his shaggy blond locks, Chat gripped the baton tightly and forced himself to his feet.

He just had to make it back. He'd get home and detransform and Plagg would figure out what was wrong.

He just had to get home.

Everything will be alright.

Jumping, claws scraping on the ledge, he pulled himself up with shaking muscles and gasped.

A tight wash of nausea hit him.

He was near his house - he knew it, but he couldn't tell where.

Glancing up, his spinning eyes caught the familiar rounded roof of his school.

His heart seized in relief. His house was not far after that! If he just made it there, he could figure out where to go next!

He was going to make it!

Only three more blocks!

Staggering, he flung himself across another intersection - the school's roof serving as his beacon of hope, the light to follow in the dark tunnel, a moth to a flame.

He would make it!

Throwing himself again and landing less than stellar on his side, he groaned and shakily pulled himself back to his feet.

A weak smile slipped on his lips.

He was going to reach it!

He was going to be okay!

He took the last leap - but his sight washed away to violet black as he cleared the block - his balance on the baton slipping to the left.

He was falling - his momentum too fast.

Chat Noir landed with a terrible crash - foot tangling in hanging lights and body tumbling over a small table - on a very familiar balcony.

The crash on her roof made her pen dash across the paper of her physics essay. Blue eyes wide, catching Tikki's alarmed gaze, Marinette stood slowly, her tension pulled tightly in her stomach. She carefully took the ladder to her loft. A ripple of fear gripped her and she turned to the red kwami floating at her side.

"Tikki, should I transform?"

"I'm sure it's nothing serious," she said softly. "You just handled an akuma. I don't think there'd be another attack so quickly."

Marinette nodded, feeling her courage rise. "You're right. I'm - I'm sure it's just a stray cat or something. Knocking things over. Cats do that."

Taking a deep breath, she lifted the latch and peeked over her balcony.

Her lounge chair was broken - the armrest hanging lopsided. The small round table that rested at the center of her balcony was on its side - shattered bits of her teapot scattered near one of her plants in the corner. Her string of lights was a tangled mess around a jet black boot that draped atop the overturned table.

A sharp gasp, her heart in her throat, Marinette rushed from the trapdoor and hurried to his side.

Sure enough, Chat Noir, his chest rising and falling in swift pants, his vibrant green eyes clenched shut, was sprawled with his arms outstretched on the floor of her balcony. Blond hair spread, cat ears pressed on his scalp, he looked like he was going to be sick. There was a strange purple-ish hue enveloping his right hand - seeping from his black ring.

"Chat Noir!" She cried, falling on her knees beside her partner. Untangling the lights from his leg, she wrapped her arms around his chest and back, helping him sit up slowly.

He groaned through gritted teeth.

"Chat Noir, wh-what… what are you doing here? Are you okay?"

His eyes opened - his usual slit pupils were blown wide - and he looked at her with a cross of confusion and wonder.

"Mar-Marinette? Why are you at school?"

"School?" She blinked, before shaking her head. "No, you crash on my balcony. Here, let me help- ahh!"

As she'd tried to sit him up, he tumbled to his side, slipping out of her arms to land with a fwump on her lap. His cheek on her thigh, his breathing uneven, the raven-haired girl stared straight ahead to the night sky, her mouth open, her hands raised, and the heat racing to her cheeks.

Guilt and something hotter swam inside. Her magic hadn't cured him. She'd sensed that something was wrong after the attack, but...

Why did he lie to her?

Hands coming down to his back, her fingers moved to sweep the blond hair from the side of his face.

Her heart broke. He looked like he was in pain.

"Chat Noir, what happened to you?"

"Akuma… spell… it hit me…" he whispered against her pink pants. "Spread to my ring…"

"That explains your hand," she said softly, glancing down at the tight fog wrapping around his fingers. "I thought Ladybug's power fixed all damages done by akumas."

He didn't answer, instead his arm moved to wrap around her waist.

A tight squeal escaped her - bluebell eyes wide.

"I don't feel good, princess," he whimpered.

"Are you in pain? Should I call an ambulance?"

"No." The reply was sharp - sharper than she'd ever heard Chat speak. With a grunt, his shoulders shifted underneath his leather suit and he struggled to sit up. His nose brushed her chin and she leaned back, a terrible hitch jolting her stomach. He stared her in the eye, and she stared back - too stupefied to move.

The purple cloud was growing - enveloping his forearm, his elbow, his bicep.

Neither noticed of them noticed.

"You have her eyes," he said suddenly with a catch in his throat. He blinked rapidly as if clearing his vision, but then his nose sniffed the air.

"You have her scent, too. She smells… sweet. Like sugar."

"Who does?" Marinette squeaked - her heart thrumming nervously in her chest like a little bird. His face was closer now and she was frozen. His nose dipped to inhale at her throat.

"Could it be you, princess?"

"Me…?" Her voice was less than a breath.

Suddenly, his green eyes rolled, his chest fell forward, and - as she finally noticed the dark purple shadow creeping over him - he collapsed on her. Knocking her backwards, her head hit the concrete of her balcony and a shot of pain rocked through her skull.

Chat's face, landing near her neck, was pale and still - his eyes closed and his body pinning her down. Her arms tried to push him off, but he was a dead weight on top of her.

"Chat Noir… Chat!"

He didn't stir.

Horror filled her as the shadow rushed from him to engulf her as well.

Head turning, she watched his eyelashes flutter behind that deep black mask and she closed her eyes tightly. Wrapping her arms protectively around her partner, she tucked his head closer. Fear swirled inside, but a resignation was taking over.

Whatever was happening, they'd face it together - as a team.

"It'll be alright, kitty… I'm here."

It was washing like a tide, spreading down her arms and legs.

"I am her..."

Her sight was covered deep black violet.

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